System and method for providing a real-time digital virtual audience

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure generally provides a system and method for providing a real-time digital virtual audience. The system and method may include processing video associated with an event to produce a corresponding data stream, combining the corresponding data stream with at least one sequence of predictability data stream to create a digital framework, processing the digital framework into at least one representation of at least one object depicted in the video, and transmitting the at least one representation to one or more communication devices associated with one or more virtual audience members, wherein the one or more virtual audience members are viewing the same event using their respective communication devices.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 16/887,823, filed May 29, 2020 which is a continuation-in-partof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/283,971, filed Feb. 25, 2019,which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/281,803,filed Sep. 30, 2016, which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/224,250, filed on Sep. 1, 2011, entitled “System and Methodfor Providing a Real-Time Three-Dimensional Digital Impact VirtualAudience,” which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/198,679, filed on Aug. 4, 2011, entitled “System and Methodfor Providing a Real-Time Digital Impact Virtual Audience,” which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/032,451,filed on Feb. 22, 2011, entitled “System and Method for Providing aReal-Time Digital Impact Virtual Audience,” which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/897,606,filed on Oct. 4, 2010, entitled “System and Method for Controlling aPerformance Environment” which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/717,921, filed on Mar. 4, 2010, entitled “RemoteAudience Participation,” which claims the benefit of ProvisionalApplication No. 61/157,229, each of which are incorporated herein byreference in their entireties.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The disclosure relates generally to entertainment services, liveperformances, virtual events/locations, and/or live events. Inparticular, the disclosure relates to systems and methods to provide areal-time digital virtual audience.

BACKGROUND

Television and, in particular, transmission of programming such asreality programming, live and/or taped events, such as performances orsporting events, continues to be very popular. However, interactionbetween viewers and participants as well among viewers while theprogramming occurs may not always satisfy the needs or wants of viewers.

SUMMARY

In an embodiment, the present disclosure could generally provide amethod for providing a real-time digital virtual audience includingprocessing video associated with a live event to produce a correspondingdata stream, combining the corresponding data stream with at least onesequence of predictability data stream to create a digital framework,processing the digital framework into at least one full-formrepresentation of at least one object depicted in the video, andtransmitting the at least one full-form representation to one or moreremote audience devices associated with one or more virtual audiencemembers, wherein the one or more virtual audience members are viewingthe same live event using their respective remote audience devices. Thevideo may be filmed using a dual-processor compositing method. Thedigital framework may include one of the following: color, movement andlight density. The at least one sequence of predictability data streammay originate from a camera angle from a different vantage point at thelive event. Processing the digital framework may be performed through anexpansion rendering program. The video and the at least one sequence ofpredictability data stream may originate from at least one of thefollowing sources: governmental satellite imagery, internationalsatellite imagery, drones, ultra-high definition cameras,three-dimensional compositing cameras, dual-lens compositing cameras,and high-resolution data sources.

Another embodiment of the present disclosure may provide a real-timedigital virtual audience system that may include one or more remoteaudience devices associated with one or more virtual audience members,wherein the one or more virtual audience members each receive at leastone full-form representation of at least one object associated with alive event. Accordingly, the one or more virtual audience members mayview the same live event and communicate among the one or more virtualaudience members using their respective remote audience devices.

A further embodiment of the present disclosure may provide, for use inconjunction with a live event, a method for a virtual audience member toparticipate in a real-time digital virtual audience. The method maycomprise obtaining a virtual ticket to the live event, selecting a linkthat accesses a coordinate associated with the live event, thecoordinate providing the virtual audience member with a particularvantage point within the live event that may be manipulated by thevirtual audience member, and communicating with at least one additionalvirtual audience member accessing the same coordinate associated withthe live event. The virtual audience member may manipulate theparticular vantage point by performing at least one of the followingfunctions: turning right, turning left, and zooming in on one or moreobjects associated with the live event. The coordinate may be formed byprocessing video associated with the live event to produce acorresponding data stream, compositing the corresponding data streamwith at least one sequence of predictability data stream to create adigital framework, and processing the digital framework into at leastone full-form representation of at least one object depicted in thevideo.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of this disclosure and its features,reference is now made to the following description, taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system allowing communication fromvirtual audience members to provide a real-time digital virtual audienceat a live event or performance according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a method for receiving data and audiotransmissions from virtual audience members and retransmitting therelated data and audio transmissions to provide a real-time digitalvirtual audience at a live event or performance according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a system and method of remote audienceparticipation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a system and method of providing a virtualaudience according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a virtual ticket system and method accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a virtual ticket system and method accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 depicts a system for a virtual ticket purchase for a designatedseat according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 8 depicts a system for a virtual ticket purchase for a sharedgeneral location according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally provide a system ofinteractive technologies to involve virtual audience members in a liveevent or performance. Such involvement may permit the virtual audiencemember to distract, confuse, impact, instruct, command, or otherwisepositively or negatively affect participants of, for example, televisionshows, sporting events, virtual events/locations, news broadcasts,theater performances, or webcasts in real-time. Other involvement maypermit a virtual audience member to interact with one or more virtualaudience members during the live event or performance. Virtual audiencemembers may join an event and interact with friends who are also virtualaudience members according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Inother embodiments of the present disclosure, a visual (such as a vantagepoint) at the site of the live event or performance may be selected, anda community of virtual audience members may form around that visual. Itshould be appreciated that virtual audience members may interact withone another through video and/or audio in embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

As used herein, the term “event” is intended to convey the broadestpossible meaning and refers to any happening, occurrence, appearance,ceremony, circumstance, experience, function, occasion, proceeding,situation, performance, debate, speech, election, etc. where virtualaudience members may be involved with a live performance or event. Byway of non-limiting example, in some embodiments, the event may be alive performance for a television show, theater show, or webcast; a livesporting event, concert event, reality show, news broadcast, orpolitical event; a celebration, meeting, class, lecture, or any otherlive public or private event, or an event or activity occurring on theInternet or in a virtual location.

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally provide a system ofinteractive technologies that allow virtual audience members tocommunicate input to participants on site at the live event orperformance. By way of non-limiting example, the virtual audiencemembers may vote; judge; indicate an opinion; control a device used todistract, confuse, impact, instruct, and/or command participants at alive event; or otherwise positively or negatively involvehimself/herself with the live event or performance.

In certain embodiments, virtual audience members may transmit datathrough personal communication devices that communicate using differentprotocols. For example, virtual audience members may communicate througha computer, cellular phone, smartphone, or other video streamingtechnology. Using his/her personal communication device, a virtualaudience member may transmit a visual display in the form of a streamingvideo, still picture, or avatar to be displayed at the site of a liveevent or performance. Audio associated with a visual display of thevirtual audience member also may be retransmitted at the site of thelive event or performance in its original form or as a representativeand/or collective stream of audio. It should be appreciated that theremay be embodiments of the present disclosure where a virtual audiencemember may access through one or more different protocols or devicesand/or through an application or a website that may be included oraccessible on one or more devices. For example, a virtual audiencemember may utilize his/her smartphone and access the live event orperformance through the web browser that may be available on thesmartphone and/or an application that may be provided to access the liveevent or performance. It also should be appreciated that there may besome embodiments of the present disclosure where the system may detectthat the virtual audience member is merely utilizing his/her smartphoneto access the live event or performance, whether through the web browseror an application, or by using text messaging on his/her smartphone tovote in connection with the live event. However, there may be otherembodiments of the present disclosure where the system may detect that avirtual audience member is, for example, voting using text messaging,the web browser, and/or an application on the smartphone, such as foraggregation across protocol purposes.

In certain embodiments, virtual audience members may transmit a visualdisplay and/or audio associated with the virtual audience member toexpress an opinion on, for example, whether to increase, eliminate ordecrease obstacles to advantage/disadvantage a performer. For example, avirtual audience member may provide an opinion that causes a light orother similar objects to light up, blink, or strobe with varyingduration, frequency or intensity; causes a sound or multiple sounds ofvarying volumes and pitch; causes water, ice, sand, foam, paint, smokeor any other physical impediment to increase or decrease; causes thedifficulty of questions posed to a performer to increase or decrease;causes the spiciness of food in an eating contest to increase ordecrease, etc.

To illustrate the teachings of the present disclosure, FIG. 1 depicts asomewhat simplified schematic of a representative system 100 to permitcommunication from at least one virtual audience member and provide areal-time digital virtual audience at a live event or performanceaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Such virtualaudience communications may be transmitted substantially in real-timeand displayed at the live event or performance. It should be understoodthat system 100 shown in FIG. 1 is for illustrative purposes only andthat any other suitable system or subsystem could be used in conjunctionwith or in lieu of system 100 according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

System 100 could include remote audience device 102, communicationnetwork 104, and server 106 according to one embodiment of the presentdisclosure. Although one remote audience device 102, communication 104,and server 106 are illustrated in FIG. 1, it should be appreciated thatsystem 100 could include any number of suitable devices, networks, orservers without departing from the object of the present disclosure.

Remote audience device 102 (also referred to as a personal communicationdevice in some embodiments of the present disclosure) could include auser terminal, stand-alone unit, network device, machine, wirelessdevice, telephone system, Smartphone, Internet portal, Intranet portal,remote access portal, hand-held unit, other suitable device or terminal,or any combination thereof. Remote audience device 102 could provide thevirtual audience member with multiple options on how to communicate witha performer at the site of the live event through, for example, amenu-driven system, graphical user interface, buttons, switches, dials,other actuation systems, video and/or audio streaming/capture systems,or any combination thereof. In one embodiment of the present disclosure,a virtual audience member may communicate with a participant at a liveevent by logging onto a social media website, such as Facebook, andconnecting through a portal or other communication mechanism associatedwith the live event in order to provide messages in video, image,textual, and/or audio format. While participants may include a host orother person present at the event, it should be appreciated that theword “participant” may also include audience members depending on thecircumstances in embodiments of the present disclosure. Further, while aportal is described herein, other communication mechanisms may beutilized for virtual audience members to communicate without departingfrom the present disclosure.

Remote audience device 102 could receive an input from a virtualaudience member to provide feedback or otherwise communicate or distractsomeone associated with a television show, webcast, video blog, theatershow, sporting event, physically challenging event, team event, businessevent, performance, sales or marketing venture, virtual event/location,or other form of entertainment. The input signal could be transmittedthrough communication network 104 and processed by server 106 to providea corresponding output and permit the virtual audience member tocommunicate directly to participants on site at the live performance orevent.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, a virtual audiencemember may communicate with other virtual audience members to form acommunity that may be viewing the same live event or performance. Thevirtual audience members comprising such a community may know eachother. For example, virtual audience members may join a live event andinteract with friends who are also virtual audience members according toembodiments of the present disclosure. Additionally or alternatively,virtual audience members may be united to interact based in whole or inpart on mutual interest in the live event or event performance. In otherembodiments of the present disclosure, a visual (such as a vantagepoint) at the site of the live event or performance may be selected, anda community of virtual audience members may form around that visual. Ineach of these embodiments, a virtual audience member may communicatewith other virtual audience members using remote audience device 102. Insuch embodiments, remote audience device 102 could receive an input froma virtual audience member to initiate or continue communication with oneor more virtual audience members. This interaction may be through videoand/or audio according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

The virtual audience member using remote audience device 102 could bephysically located at any suitable location, including his/her home orbusiness. It also should be appreciated that a virtual audience membermay be located in any part of the world, such that, for example,television shows being filmed in the United States can involve aworldwide audience. In another embodiment of the present disclosure,remote audience device 102 may be a portable personal communicationdevice, such as a cellular phone or Smartphone, and accordingly, thevirtual audience member may utilize remote audience device 102 in anylocation where communication network 104 may be accessed. As an example,the virtual audience member could use remote audience device 102 as thelive performance occurs (e.g., real-time) to provide a message, vote,communication, command, encouragement, coaching advice, or distractionto the performer as desired in order to, for example, show support orprovide criticism of a particular performance or viewpoint of theperformer. In other embodiments of the present disclosure, the virtualaudience member may use remote audience device 102 during a live eventto communicate with other virtual audience members. Such communicationmay be to comment on various items, including but not limited to, whatis happening with the live event (such as a call by a referee or a scorethat occurs during a sporting event) or the participants in the liveevent (such as a team, a performer, an athlete, a referee, or anannouncer associated with the live event).

Communication network 104 could be any suitable network including, forexample, a dedicated network connection, wire-line connection, wirelessconnection, Internet, Intranet, Wi-Fi, LAN, WAN, mobile phonecommunication network, telecommunications network, a cloud-basednetwork, other suitable communication systems, or any combinationthereof. Communication network 104 could be coupled to or include anysuitable number or types of connections between remote audience device102 and server 106. For example, a signal received from remote audiencedevice 102 could be processed through the Internet to server 106. Inanother embodiment, a signal received from remote audience device 102could be processed through a mobile phone communications network toserver 106 and further processed through a Wi-Fi network located at thesite of the live event or associated with a virtual event/location, forexample.

Server 106 could be configured to receive and process data, signals,query requests, audio, images, and/or video, and output any suchinformation as necessary from any number of sources, including, forexample, remote audience device 102 or communication network 104. Server106 could generally include any server, group of servers, databases,memories, applications, software, computer programs, routines, otherobjects, or any combinations thereof. Server 106 could communicate withone or more communication networks such as, for example, a dedicatednetwork connection, wire-line connection, wireless connection, Internet,Intranet, Wi-Fi, LAN, WAN, mobile phone communication network, socialcommunication network, other suitable communication systems, or anycombination thereof. In embodiments of the present disclosure, a serveror group of servers may be used for video and/or audio communicationsbetween virtual audience members and participants at the live event orperformance while another server or group of servers may be used forcommunications between or among virtual audience members. In otherembodiments of the present disclosure, the same server or group ofservers may be used both for communications between virtual audiencemembers and participants at the live event or performance as wellcommunications between or among virtual audience members.

System 100 also may include an aggregator that may be at the site of alive performance or associated with an event, whether at a physicallocation or virtual in nature. In certain embodiments, an aggregator maybe configured to receive data and/or audio transmissions originatingfrom a plurality of remote audience devices 102. Using an aggregator orseries of aggregators, data bursts may be counted from numerouslocations very quickly, and these tallies may be added together tocreate a single constantly growing number that may then be used, forexample, to incrementally change something and/or to show public opinion(as in a voting method). The number of data sources being processed, aswell as the volume of data, may drive how many aggregators may be neededto result in one consolidated, rapidly growing number. Systems accordingto embodiments of the present disclosure may read a portion of codeassociated with a data burst and ignore the rest, allowing the remainderto pass through unprocessed. Accordingly, as each data burst passesthrough systems according to embodiments of the present disclosure, thedata burst may not be collected or fully processed, only counted andpermitted to pass through, thereby forming a running tally associatedwith that data burst. The running tally may grow incrementally and inturn may be processed as a set or as continuous numbers that may be sentin bursts or as a continuous stream into rapid calculation algorithmswithin an aggregator. An aggregator may take these bursts or continuousstream (such as a combination of all tallies) and output the burstsand/or stream to any variety of mechanical, informational, or other endsources. At the end source, these bursts and/or stream may be used tocreate or elicit any number of reactions, including but not limited to,causing volumetric release or absorption of a liquid to incrementalincreases or decreases in the difficulty of a challenge to revealing whowon an opinion debate or election.

It should be appreciated that regardless what the tally represents orwhat form the tally takes (i.e., numbers, words, or even emojis), thetally may result in a behavioral change by one or more participants inresponse to the tally. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, ateacher may be teaching an online class and may periodically quiz orpoll the students to get a feel for whether the students are absorbingthe information being taught. The students may respond using a varietyof formats, and the responses may be aggregated through a tally tosummarize the results for the teacher. Depending on the number ofstudents that answer the questions correctly, the teacher may beprompted to go back over the information previously taught or moveforward to a new subject. In addition, a system according to embodimentsof the present disclosure may be used for a student government meetingto provide feedback on topics to be covered, for example, or how thestudent government should react and move forward.

A system and method according to embodiments of the present disclosuremay be used in connection with video games. For example, live streamingplatforms, such as Twitch, allow viewers to watch video game players andinteract with them. The player may periodically seek feedback from theviewers as to what action(s) he/she should take in playing the videogame. The viewers may vote or respond through a variety of means ofcommunication, and the responses may be tallied to direct the player ashis/her next action(s).

The received data and/or audio transmissions may include a visualdisplay of the virtual audience member, in the form of a streamingvideo, still picture or avatar, and/or an audio transmission. Such dataand/or audio transmissions may be transmitted, for example, through aSmartphone application, a personal computer, or other audio and/or videostreaming technology. An aggregator also may receive certain datatransmissions originating from each remote audience device 102. Itshould be understood that system 100 could include any number of remoteaudience devices, aggregators, servers, processors, or otherelectromechanical devices.

Virtual audience members associated with the live event or performancemay operate remote audience devices 102. The data and/or audiotransmission originating at any of remote audience devices 102 may betransmitted through any suitable communication network, such as a PSTN,the Internet, and/or an Intranet as described above.

A virtual audience member may operate remote audience device 102 whilewatching the live performance or event wherever in the world that thevirtual audience member is located. For example, the virtual audiencemember may use remote audience device 102 to send a message, vote,communication, command, encouragement, coaching advice, or distractionto the performer as desired in order to, for example, show support orprovide criticism of a particular performance or viewpoint of theperformer. In some embodiments, the data and/or audio transmission fromthe virtual audience member may, for example, provide instruction orotherwise influence a team sport, a team play or strategy, an individualplay or strategy, increase/decrease physical intensity,increase/decrease psychological challenges, increase/decrease mentalchallenges, or any suitable combination thereof. A virtual audiencemember may also vote to provide clues to participants in the event, orin a performance-type event, a virtual audience member may be promptedto vote to select a participant to perform again. In another embodiment,during a news broadcast, a virtual audience member may provide commentson or react to events as they continue to unfold. Such comments orreactions may be communicated to participants on site associated withthe live event or performance. Additionally or alternatively, suchcomments or reactions may be communicated between or among virtualaudience members, such as through a chat format.

In one embodiment, the event may be a performance occurring live. Theperformance may be being broadcast on television or otherwisetransmitted to an audience, such as through a virtual environment orlocation. The performance may include participants “A” and “B”. As partof the broadcast, the audience may be invited to “vote” for or againstor express an opinion related to participant “A” or “B”. A vote forparticipant “A” may correspond to an environment, situation, orcircumstance associated with participant “A” being incrementallyinfluenced or otherwise controlled by the number of “votes” received foror against participant “A”. Similarly, a vote for participant “B” maycorrespond to an environment, situation, or circumstance associated withparticipant “B” being incrementally influenced or otherwise controlledby the number of “votes” received for or against participant “B”.

While viewing the broadcast of the event, a virtual audience member mayuse remote audience device 102 to communicate a vote or express anopinion on what is occurring at the event. One or more servers 106 mayreceive the votes or opinions from virtual audience members. In certainembodiments, server 106 may be a bank of multiple servers.

A vote or opinion may be communicated from remote audience device 102 toserver 106 and, in some embodiments, on to an aggregator using anysuitable communication network 104. Moreover, in certain embodiments, avote or opinion may be communicated directly to participants at the siteof the live event.

A protocol, such as communication through the World Wide Web, may beused according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. A virtualaudience member with access to the Internet may observe the live eventthrough remote audience device 102. Additionally, or alternatively, avirtual audience member may have remote audience device 102 availablefor use to interact with the live event itself or with other virtualaudience members while viewing the live event on his/her television, forexample. Remote audience device 102 may be a personal computer, a laptopcomputer, a Web-enabled mobile device, or any suitable communicationdevice/system with access to the Internet or other communicationnetwork. As part of the live broadcast, the virtual audience may beinvited to communicate a vote or opinion for or against participant “A”or “B”. A vote for or against participant “A” may correspond to anenvironment, situation, or circumstance associated with participant “A”being incrementally influenced or otherwise controlled by the number of“votes” received for or against participant “A”. Similarly, a vote foror against participant “B” may correspond to an environment, situation,or circumstance associated with participant “B” being incrementallyinfluenced or otherwise controlled by the number of “votes” received foror against participant “B”. While virtual audience members maycommunicate a vote or opinion to the live event as described above,virtual audience members also may communicate with each other aboutthose votes or opinions.

The user may use remote audience device 102 to communicate a web vote oropinion using access to a web address or uniform resource locator (URL).A web data stream may represent each web vote or opinion communicatedusing remote audience device 102 for or against participant “A”.Similarly, each web vote or opinion communicated from remote audiencedevice 102 for or against participant “B” may be represented by a Webdata stream. In certain embodiments, each website request or web votemay be received by server 106 and communicated directly via audio and/ordata transmission to a participant in the live event such as via ascreen or monitor available at the live event. When a vote or opinion isreceived at the site of the live event, a participant may view or hearthe vote or opinion by accessing the screen or monitor connected tocommunication network 104. As an example, when server 106 receives a webvote or opinion over communication network 104, an image (i.e., a stillshot or avatar) of the virtual audience member may appear on the screenor monitor. If audio and/or video is associated with the image, aparticipant on site at the live event may activate such audio and/orvideo in a variety of manners. For example, if the screen or monitor hastouch-screen capabilities, the participant may touch the image of thevirtual audience member in order to activate the audio and/or videoassociated with the image and otherwise interact with the virtualaudience member. In other embodiments, a participant may use a mouse orother tracking device in order to select the image and activate theaudio and/or video or otherwise interact with the virtual audiencemember. In another embodiment of the present disclosure, a virtualaudience member may be a fully functioning participant in the live eventfrom the outset of the live event. For example, when the live eventbegins, the virtual audience member may already be present on the screenor other display and interacting with the participants, withoutrequiring activation of the display during the live event. In analternative embodiment of the present disclosure, a virtual audiencemember may be introduced into an virtual event or a virtual locationunder the control of a participant or host in a similar manner asdescribed above, or the virtual audience member may be an activeparticipant from the outset of the virtual event, for example, bylogging into the virtual event/location.

It also should be appreciated that the screen or monitor at the site ofthe live event and/or associated with a virtual event/location maydisplay images as well as transmit audio and/or video of more than onevirtual audience member at the same time, for example, in a checkerboardpattern on the screen or monitor. Additionally, or alternatively, thescreen or monitor may display a listing of any virtual audience memberswho are available at any given time to interact with the participants onsite at the live event. A website request to participate may becommunicated from remote audience device 102 to server 106 using anysuitable communication network 104, such as the Internet or Intranet. Ina further embodiment, the data associated with the web vote or opinionmay be transformed into a running tally that is communicated to anaggregator.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when virtualaudience members communicate with one another, a still picture,streaming video, or an avatar associated with a virtual audience membermay appear on the screen or other display of other virtual audiencemembers. Such a display may occur without requiring activation of thedisplay during the live event or may appear upon activity occurringassociated with that virtual audience member. For example, virtualaudience members may be associated with a particular viewing locationwithin a stadium during a professional football game. In certainembodiments, virtual audience members within this section may know eachother and have elected to virtually join the live event collectively;however, in other embodiments, virtual audience members within a sectionmay not know each other or may only know some of the other virtualaudience members. In either instance, virtual audience members within agiven section may interact with each other during the live event. Whensuch interaction occurs (i.e., when a virtual audience member initiatesa chat with one or more virtual audience members), still pictures,streaming video, or avatars associated with each virtual audience membermay appear on the displays of their respective remote audience devices.In an alternative embodiment of the present disclosure, a virtualaudience member may be introduced into a virtual event or a virtuallocation under the control of another virtual audience member, or thevirtual audience members may be active participants from the outset ofthe virtual event, for example, by logging into the virtualevent/location.

It also should be appreciated that in certain embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the screen or monitor associated with each virtual audiencemember's remote audience device may be configured to display images aswell as transmit audio and/or video of more than one virtual audiencemember at the same time, for example, in a checkerboard pattern on thescreen or monitor. This audio/video may be retransmitted in its originalform or as a representative and/or collective stream of audio/video.Additionally, or alternatively, the screen or monitor may display alisting of any virtual audience members who are available at any giventime to interact with other virtual audience members who areparticipating in the live event.

A live event or performance may transmit a video and/or audio stream(i.e., the broadcast) that may be picked up by a remote audience deviceassociated with a virtual audience member. Accordingly, the broadcastmay be streamed onto the virtual audience member's remote audiencedevice. While the broadcast is streamed, a camera/microphone recordingunit associated with a remote audience device may capture video and/oraudio associated with a virtual audience member as he/she responds tothe broadcast being streamed. One or more signals associated with avirtual audience member's reactions may be transmitted back to the siteof the live event or performance. The one or more signals may becollected by a series of organizational computer banks and thenbroadcast at the site of the live event or performance in any sizedefinable on the screen therein.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may provide that a prospectivevirtual audience member purchases or otherwise obtains a virtual ticketto a live event or performance. This virtual ticket may provide for“general admission” where the live event or performance would beviewable through the virtual audience member's remote audience device.With such a general admission virtual ticket, the virtual audiencemember would view the live event or performance from the camera angle(s)specified or selected for remotely viewing the event or performance, andthe virtual audience member also may hear (have audio) that may begenerally provided for the event or performance.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, a virtual audiencemember may purchase or otherwise obtain a virtual ticket to view thelive event or performance, for example, from a specific camera angleand/or from a camera positioned within a certain area on site at thelive event or performance. For example, a virtual audience member maypurchase or obtain a virtual ticket so that he/she may view and hear theevent as if he/she were sitting on the 50-yard line at a football gameor at center court at a basketball game. However, another virtualaudience member may elect to purchase or obtain a virtual ticket thatmay provide a view from a position with the stadium that is more remotefrom the court or field and may cost less than the 50-yard line orcenter court view. It should be appreciated that there may beembodiments of the present disclosure where the virtual audience membermay select a particular “seat” which may provide audio and/or videoassociated with the event; however, there may be other embodiments ofthe present disclosure where the virtual audience member may select asection or area of the venue where the event is occurring withoutselecting a specific seat.

It should be appreciated that virtual audience members may coordinate topurchase or obtain virtual tickets within the same “section” at a liveevent or performance. For example, groups of friends who may live indifferent geographical areas but would enjoy watching a sporting eventtogether if they were located in the same geographical area or were onsite at the live event or performance may elect to purchase or otherwiseobtain virtual tickets together. In such an embodiment, these virtualaudience members may elect to obtain virtual tickets having a 50-yardline visual, and there may be audio associated with that specific visualin an embodiment of the present disclosure. Accordingly, they would eachbe viewing (as well as hearing) the football game in real-time from thesame vantage point using their remote audience devices. As these virtualaudience members have virtual tickets for the same section, embodimentsof the present disclosure may permit them to chat or otherwise interactwith each other during the event using their respective remote audiencedevices. In such embodiments, these virtual audience members mayinteract with each other in a similar manner as they might interact ifthey were sitting together in the same physical section on site at thelive event.

Virtual aggregators may take a large number of audio and/or videostreams and create a composite stream—essentially a capture of all ofthe streams. The composite stream may then be rebroadcast or otherwisetransmitted/streamed to each of the virtual audience members.Accordingly, each virtual audience member in a “virtual ticket” sectionmay see and/or hear their friends, the audio/video of the live event orperformance, and/or themselves during the live event or performance forwhich the virtual audience member has a “virtual ticket.” There also maybe embodiments of the present disclosure where virtual audience membersmay hear ambient noise that may be associated with the event, such asfoot stomping, yelling, or clapping at a sporting event. In someembodiments of the present disclosure, there may be more than one audiostream from the virtual audience members that may be transmitted back tothe event. These audio streams may be mixed with ambient noise and/oraudio from other virtual audience members.

Virtual aggregators may compile video broadcasts into a series ofsimple, organized streams that may function within the pre-createdformat of a virtual audience in-venue computer system according toembodiments of the present disclosure. In embodiments of the presentdisclosure, video and/or audio associated with a virtual audience membermay be transmitted to a server or other computer system associated witha live event or performance. This video and/or audio also may betransmitted to one or virtual aggregators. Similarly, a broadcast streamfrom the live event or performance may be transmitted to one or morevirtual aggregators. Within the one or more aggregators, each videoand/or audio stream may be aggregated to combine the broadcast streamwith the individual streams associated with virtual audience members,and the combined stream may be sent to a virtual audience member as asingle stream or broadcast with all elements visible to the virtualaudience member.

Accordingly, instead of each virtual audience member's remote audiencedevice needing to process not just the broadcast/stream from the liveevent or performance, the virtual audience member's remote audiencedevice also may broadcast from each virtual audience member, forexample, associated with a “virtual ticket” section. Therefore, avirtual audience member's remote audience device may only process onestream while still hearing and seeing everyone and everything associatedwith the live event or performance as well as those members of his/her“virtual ticket” section.

While this interaction between virtual audience members has beendescribed particularly with respect to virtual audience members whoobtain virtual tickets for same “section” for viewing the live event orperformance, it should be appreciated that interaction between or amongvirtual audience members may occur in other manners. For example,virtual audience members who obtain what may be referred to as a“general admission” virtual ticket may be provided with a mechanism tochat or interact with other interested virtual audience members duringthe live event or performance. In this embodiment, virtual audiencemembers may be provided with a specified code to use upon logging intothe virtual event to be associated with virtual audience membersinterested in interacting with other virtual audience members during theevent. In another embodiment, virtual audience members may be asked toestablish a login or code upon obtaining the virtual ticket that may beprovided to certain virtual audience members upon request to establishcommunication links. Having such a login or code to share with othervirtual audience members may permit interaction among virtual audiencemembers who have obtained “general admission” virtual tickets, betweenvirtual audience members who may have purchased special “section”virtual tickets but not in the same “section,” and/or between a virtualaudience member having a “general admission” virtual ticket and anothera virtual audience member having a special “section” virtual ticket.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, a website or portal that avirtual audience member may access to participate in the live event orperformance may allow virtual audience members to establish sessions,such as may be provided through video conferencing or live streamingplatforms, to chat with virtual audience members who may be friends andwant to interact during the live event or performance. In otherembodiments, sessions may be to communicate with other virtual audiencemembers having a similar interest with respect to the live event orperformance. For example, if the live event or performance was afootball game, a chat session may be established so that virtualaudience members cheering for one team or having an interest in acertain player may interact with each other. In an additional oralternative embodiment of the present disclosure, a chat session may beestablished for a specified “section” at the live event or performance,and virtual audience members who have obtained a virtual ticket for that“section” may be provided with a code or login information at the timethat he/she obtains the virtual ticket that will permit the virtualaudience member to enter the chat associated with his/her “section.”

As previously discussed, it should be appreciated that there may beembodiments of the present disclosure where a virtual audience membermay access a live event or performance through one or more differentpersonal communication devices and/or through an application or awebsite that may be included or accessible on one or more devices. Forexample, a virtual audience member may utilize his/her smartphone andaccess the live event or performance through the web browser that may beavailable on the smartphone and/or an application that may be providedto access the live event or performance. It also should be appreciatedthat there may be some embodiments of the present disclosure where thesystem may detect that the virtual audience member is merely utilizinghis/her smartphone to access the live event or performance, whetherthrough the web browser or an application, or by using text messaging onhis/her smartphone to vote in connection with the live event. However,there may be other embodiments of the present disclosure where thesystem may detect that a virtual audience member is, for example,viewing the live event or performance or engaging in interaction withother virtual audience members using the web browser and/or anapplication on the smartphone. There may be further embodiments of thepresent disclosure where the system may be access-type agnostic, meaningthat it need not determine specifically how the virtual audience memberis accessing the live event or performance as long as he/she isauthorized to do so.

Another embodiment of the present disclosure expands upon the “virtualticket” by permitting a virtual audience member to have a view of a liveevent or performance as if the virtual audience member were physicallypresent at the live event or performance. In addition to video, thevirtual audience member also may be provided with audio that he/shewould hear if present at the event. In an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the vantage point or visual that the virtual audience membersees when he/she views the live event or performance may change, andthis change may be made by the provider of the live event or performanceand/or by the virtual audience member in embodiments of the presentdisclosure. As previously discussed, a virtual audience member may viewvideo and/or audio associated with a live event or performance onhis/her remote audience device, such as his/her computer, phone or othermobile device. However, with a “virtual ticket” view according toembodiments of the present disclosure, one or more signals transmittedto a virtual audience member may be created using ultra-high-resolutionvideo of a live event or performance. This is because the broadcaststream in this embodiment of a “virtual ticket” may be a representationof the live event or performance as the event/performance is occurringthat may replicate what the experience of being at the live event orperformance. For example, the virtual audience member using a “virtualticket” may have the same type of experience from a visual andaudio/sound perspective as if the virtual audience member werephysically present at the live event or performance. In addition, the“virtual ticket” experience may allow the virtual audience member totalk to other virtual audience members in an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The broadcast stream may be created through a series ofadvanced quality cameras or other recording devices that may outputhigh-resolution photos and/or video to one or more computing devices. Itshould be appreciated that there may be embodiments of the presentdisclosure where a content delivery network (CDN) may be used to providefor delivery of content to virtual audience members. The CDN does nottypically host content but may provide for improved delivery to thevirtual audience members through utilization of caching, for example,which may reduce hosting bandwidth and help prevent interruptions in theaudio and/or video being provided to virtual audience members.

This stream may be put through a series of rendering processes in someembodiments of the present disclosure. Such computing devices may eachbe set to process a unique photo and/or video. Each unique photo and/orvideo feed may be analyzed by a specific computing device and/or bank ofcomputing devices that may read the density of the shadows associatedwith each person and/or object being filmed. Each computing deviceand/or bank of computing devices may apply these shadow-density readingsto a variable algorithm that may transform the processed shadow-densityreadings into a framework of data points associated with each personand/or object being filmed. This is a process that may be known to thoseof ordinary skill in the art in creating special effects creatures usingthe movement of real actors applied in the “virtual ticket” context.Each framework of data points may then be processed through anothercomputing device and/or network of computing devices that may read andprocess the data points through structuring platforms, thereby formingdigital versions of each person and/or object processed, as well as alandscape out of the world surrounding those objects.

In this embodiment of the present disclosure, a virtual audience memberpurchasing a “virtual ticket” may be given a link (i.e., on a website orthrough a mobile application) to select that will take him/her to anexact coordinate associated with the live event or performance that maybe created through these processing techniques. This coordinate may beconsidered the remote audience member's “seat” at the live event orperformance. This coordinate may provide a virtual audience member witha specified angle or vantage point within the live event or performancewhereby the virtual audience member may, for example, turn to the leftor right and even zoom in on the action occurring at the live event orperformance. It should be appreciated that the system that may beproviding the virtual audience member with the ability to modify his/herangle or vantage point may allow for duplication of the video associatedwith the virtual audience members viewing from a particular section.Accordingly, each virtual audience member may selectively modify his/herangle or vantage point without disturbing the angle or vantage point ofanother virtual audience member that may be viewing from the samesection in embodiments of the present disclosure.

For example, a virtual audience member may purchase a “virtual ticket”to a professional football game. The virtual audience member may selecta particular coordinate associated with a 50-yard line view within thestadium where the professional football game is occurring. Accordingly,the virtual audience member may turn to the left or right to have abetter view of the action that may be happening in either end zone.Further, a virtual audience member may zoom in to have a better view ofthe quarterback during a particular play in the game or even to viewwhat may be occurring when a play has been challenged. However, itshould be appreciated that the virtual audience member may not alter theangle or vantage point once a coordinate has been selected because thecentral pivot point has been locked. If the virtual audience member optsto change his/her angle or vantage point, a different coordinate may beselected, such as by obtaining a different “virtual ticket.” However,there may be embodiments of the present disclosure where the virtualaudience member may have the ability to change the angle or vantagepoint.

By providing a virtual audience member with a view of a live event orperformance, the virtual audience member may see all of the action thatmay be associated with his/her virtual position within a venueassociated with a live event or performance. If a virtual audiencemember is viewing a live event or performance from a certain vantagepoint (i.e., the 50-yard line at a football game or the front row of aconcert), the virtual audience member may remotely view all of theaction occurring around that vantage point as if he/she were sitting inthat physical vantage point (i.e., seat) at the live event orperformance. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, avirtual audience member viewing a live event or performance through aremote audience device may experience a view of the live event orperformance as if he/she were physically present at the live event orperformance without the need for special glasses. Accordingly, a virtualaudience member may be provided with a fully multi-dimensional worldthat may be visible and updated in real-time to his/her remote audiencedevice.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, images or video that maybe viewed by a virtual audience member according to embodiments of thepresent disclosure may be more than two-dimensional or flat images.Regardless, each image may be a map of densities, color variations, andmovement once such images are placed into digitized form. Each aspect ofan image may be broken down into algorithms depicting how the image maychange when the next image is captured if the action contained withinthe first image were permitted to continue. When processing video, suchas video that may be captured through a dual-processor compositingmethod (i.e., a method used by directors such as James Cameron tocapture/create movies in 3D), each frame within the video may provide asmuch or even more information than what may be provided by a standardphotograph. Accordingly, when each frame of a video may be processed inthis manner, the corresponding data may be extensive and extremelyaccurate in its ability to map out and predict how the first frame ofvideo may be changed in the next frame.

By having this level of comprehensive data combined with generatedsequence-of-predictability models, data streams may be output and thencomposited with matching data and predictability models from similarsources (i.e., camera angles from multiple other vantage pointsassociated with a live event or performance). Accordingly, highlyaccurate digital frameworks of how different aspects, including but notlimited to, color, movement, and/or light density, may change from frameto frame may be created. Data composites may then be processed throughMaya or CAD-like expansion-rendering programs in some embodiments of thepresent disclosure. Such programs may take these digital frameworks andfill them out into detailed, full-body and/or full-form representationsof the actual people and/or objects being depicted. It should beappreciated that some objects associated with a live event orperformance may be stationary (i.e., the field, court and/or seats at asporting event). It follows that the representations of people and/orobjects that are mobile during the live event or performance may beeasier and faster to process, thereby allowing the compilers to addincreasing detail to a person and/or object being filmed. Theserepresentations may then be streamed or broadcast out into astandardized digital space that may divided based on vantage points, forexample, associated with a virtual audience member or groups of virtualaudience members that have certain “virtual tickets” as previouslydescribed. It should be appreciated that the number of “virtual tickets”available related to a particular vantage point may be limited toexpedite how fast a virtual audience member may be able view audioand/or video on his/her remote audience device as well as to limit theprocessing load that may be needed to provide a real-time virtual viewof a live event or performance. It should be appreciated that imagesprovided to a virtual audience member according to this embodiment ofthe present disclosure may be provided from one or more sources,including but not limited to, governmental or international satelliteimagery, drones, ultra-high definition cameras, three-dimensional ordual-lens compositing cameras, or any other high-resolution source.

A virtual audience member also may request a particular website, uniformresource locator (URL), or IP address associated with a particularparticipant, such as participant “A”. If the virtual audience memberrequests such a particular website, for example, this request may placethe virtual audience member in a queue or otherwise make the virtualaudience member available to interact with participant “A” during thelive event. This data and/or audio transmission may be from remoteaudience device 102 through server 106. Server 106 may be associatedwith one or more websites, URLs, or IP addresses. The user may bepresented with a website displayed using remote audience device 102. Thewebsite also may include one or more virtual voting buttons such that ifthe virtual audience member does not always elect to interact directlywith participants in the live event through audio and/or video, he/shemay choose to just cast a vote. When a virtual audience member uses aninput device such as a mouse, touch screen, space bar or the like to“click” on a voting button associated with a particular participant, thewebsite request initiated by the click may be received by server 106.The virtual audience member also may use his/her input device to enterthe queue to interact with one or more participants on site at the liveevent.

Should the virtual audience member submit a website request in the formof a vote, such vote may be processed by an aggregator or server 106 asa discrete “vote” to be included in a tally associated with participant“A”. In this manner, the data transfer or burst from remote audiencedevice 102 may be tallied as an increasing data stream substantially inreal-time. Each click of the voting button may be processed as adiscrete website request or web vote regardless of remote audiencedevice 102.

In one embodiment, each virtual audience member may submit as manywebsite requests or web votes from the same IP address as the userdesires. In an alternate embodiment, system 100 may store the IP addressof remote audience device 102 and/or some other form of personalidentification information. Then, if an additional website request orweb vote is received from that same IP address and/or matching thestored personal identification information, a webpage indicating that avote has already been received may be displayed on remote audiencedevice 102. In this manner, a virtual audience member may be preventedfrom casting multiple votes from the same remote audience device.Similarly, if the virtual audience member has already interacted withone or more participants at the live event during the course of thebroadcast, the virtual audience member may be prevented from reenteringthe queue. This increasing tally may be similar to a conventionalwebsite counter or hit counter that is known in the art.

An additional communication protocol may be used according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. For example, remote audiencedevice 102 may be a Smartphone operating a Smartphone application thathas been installed on remote audience device 102. The application maypermit the virtual audience member to enter a queue in order to expressan opinion or vote during the live event. Should remote audience device102 have audio and/or video capabilities, the virtual audience membermay use remote audience device 102 in this manner.

As part of the event, the audience may be invited to submit a Smartphone“vote” for or against participant “A” or “B”. A vote for or againstparticipant “A” may correspond to an environment, situation, orcircumstance associated with participant “A” being incrementallyinfluenced or otherwise controlled by the number of “votes” received foror against participant “A”. Similarly, a vote for or against participant“B” may correspond to an environment, situation, or circumstanceassociated with participant “B” being incrementally influenced orotherwise controlled by the number of “votes” received for or againstparticipant “B”.

The user may use remote audience device 102 to communicate a Smartphonevote or opinion. The vote or opinion may be communicated using acommunication protocol similar to those previously described. In otherembodiments, the vote from remote audience device 102 may becommunicated using access to a web address as described above. Each votecommunicated from remote audience device 102 for or against participant“A” may be received by the server 106 and transformed into a running,increasing number or tally represented by Smartphone data stream 126 a.Similarly, each vote communicated from remote audience device 102 for oragainst participant “B” may be received by server 106 and transformedinto a running, increasing number or tally represented by Smartphonedata stream 126 b.

In a further embodiment of the present disclosure, a virtual audiencemember may express his/her vote or opinion through an audio streamretransmitted at the site of the live event or in connection with avirtual event/location, for example. This audio may be retransmitted inits original form or as a representative and/or collective stream ofaudio. When such audio is transmitted at the live event, the audienceviewing the live event may also be able to see a visual display of thevirtual audience member. Such visual display may take the form of astreaming video, still picture or an avatar.

Similar to the web and text protocols, a numeric string, code, orwebsite address may be associated with a particular participant, such asparticipant “A”. The data transmission from remote audience device 102may be processed by an aggregator or server 106 as a text message or awebsite request and computed by an aggregator or server 106 as adiscrete “vote” to be included in a tally. In this manner, the datatransfer or burst from remote audience device 102 may be tallied as anincreasing data stream in nearly real-time. In a further embodiment ofthe present disclosure, the virtual audience member may be asked toinput a numeric string, code, or website address associated with aparticular participant using his/her remote audience device 102 in orderto enter a queue to interact with a particular participant. Should avirtual audience member not opt to interact with a particularparticipant, in another embodiment of the present disclosure, thevirtual audience member may be asked to input a numeric string, code orwebsite address in order to enter a general queue associated with thelive event so as to generally interact with participants at the liveevent.

An additional communication protocol may be accommodated by system 100.For example, one additional communication protocol may be the standardtelephone service that has traditionally been used to transfer voicecommunications. In this embodiment, a standard telephone number may beassociated with a particular participant. A user may use remote audiencedevice 102 to communicate by a traditional telephone call to atraditional telephone number, thereby communicating only through anaudio transmission to the live event. It also should be appreciated thata virtual audience member in another country or region of the world maydial into or connect with the event or location through a call or textmessage, for example, using a global access route. Such a global accessroute may be local per country or may be local per region. Server 106may receive these calls. Server 106 may be operable to digitally processeach received call as a vote and transform these calls into a runningdata stream or tally. Similarly, server 106 may be operable to digitallyprocess each received call from remote audience device 102 as a vote andtransform these calls into a running data stream or tally for or againstparticipant “B.” In a further embodiment of the present disclosure,server 106 may log the call into a queue to permit the virtual audiencemember to interact through audio transmission with participants at thelive event.

The present disclosure contemplates that any number of additionalcommunications protocols may be accommodated by system 100 beyond thosespecifically described above, including technologies not listed above,later-developed communication technologies, etc.

In certain embodiments, an aggregator may receive information from dataand/or call streams. An aggregator may generally include any server,group of servers, databases, memories, applications, software, computerprograms, routines, other objects, or any combinations thereof. Anaggregator may combine each of the data/call streams into a combineddata stream that represents a continuously increasing tally for oragainst participant “A”. Similarly, the aggregator may combine each ofthe streams into a combined data stream that represents a continuouslyincreasing tally for or against participant “B”.

A processor may receive the combined data stream. In an embodiment, theprocessor may be associated with a device. The processor may be embeddedwithin the device or may be a component of a computer system incommunication with the device. The processor may process the combineddata stream such that the device is at least partially controlled by thecombined data stream. For example, the device may be a temperaturecontrol of a room at the site of the live event. The event participant“A” may be in the room. As the processor receives increasing votes oropinions that may be represented by the combined data stream, thetemperature in the room may increase or decrease. In other examples, thedevice may be a noise generation device, a light generation device, asmoke/fog generation device or any other device that may be suitable tochange the physical environment of participant “A”. Other embodimentsthat are suitable to control the environment, circumstances, orsituation occurring at the site of the live event concerning theparticipant “A” may be used consistent with the teachings of the presentdisclosure. For example, the device may be a counter or indicator thatprompts a host of the performance to increase/decrease the difficulty ofquestions posed to the participant “A”, allows the participant “A” toskip a challenge, and the like. In another embodiment, the device may bean indicator that prompts the host of the live event to activate ascreen or monitor to interact directly with a virtual audience membervia data and/or audio transmission in real-time.

Similarly, a processor may receive combined data streams. This processormay be associated with a device. The processor may process the combineddata stream such that the device is at least partially controlled by thecombined data stream.

In other embodiments, the processors may be associated with a singledevice that is at least partially controlled by the combined datastreams.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flow diagram of method 200 for receiving data andaudio transmissions from virtual audience members and retransmitting therelated data and audio transmissions to provide a real-time digitalvirtual audience at a live event or performance. In a certainembodiment, some or all of the components represented in FIG. 1 may beemployed in connection with this method. The method begins at steps202-208 where data and/or audio streams are received and transformed.The data and/or audio streams may represent “votes” for a particularevent participant or requests to enter the queue to interact with aparticular event participant in real-time. The data and/or audio streammay be a collection of transmissions using a particular communicationprotocol. A web data stream may be received and transmitted at step 204.At step 206, a Smartphone data stream may be received and transmitted,and at step 208 a call stream may be received and transmitted. Incertain embodiments, the transmission of the discrete votes communicatedfrom the remote audience devices associated with virtual audiencemembers may be accomplished by a processor or server, or a bank of dataprocessors or servers, which may transmit each communicated vote into arunning, increasing number stream, an increasing tally of votes for therespective communication protocol, or a queue for virtual audiencemembers to interact with participants on site at the live event orotherwise connected with a virtual event/location, for example. Each ofsteps 202-208 may be carried out simultaneously.

Each of the streams received in steps 202-208 may be combined into asingle combined data stream at step 210. An aggregator may be used tocombine the separate data streams and create a combined data stream. Acombined data stream may be communicated from the aggregator as anoutput in step 212. The combined data stream may represent a collectionof votes received through different communication protocols for aparticular event participant. At step 214, an electromechanical deviceassociated with a particular participant may be controlled based atleast partially on the combined data stream. For example, as the tallyrepresented by the combined data stream increases, the temperature in aroom where participant “A” is located may increase or decrease. Otherdevices may include lights, strobe lighting, digital display, lightedboard, text board, digital display, computer, screen, cell phone,television, projector, speakers, water container, balloons, fireworks,fire, smoke, temperature controller, CD player, DVD player, othersystems for distraction or physical change, and/or any combinationthereof.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a system and method of remote audienceparticipation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. InPhase A (301), data 311 may be sent into system 30 to remote audienceparticipation (R.A.P.) aggregator and counter 321 according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. In Phase B (302), data 311 may becounted by R.A.P. aggregator and counter 321 and then be sent to secondR.A.P. aggregator and counter 331 where data 311 may be combined withgrowing counts of other types of data such as data 312. In Phase C(303), the growing counts now combined into one large and rapidlygrowing count may be sent to mechanical device 342 or another processoror device that may cause device 342 to react, act, reveal a result, orperform other functions in response to data that it receives.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a system and method of providing a virtualaudience according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In system40, Phase A (401) a virtual audience member may turn on remote audiencedevice 411 and begin streaming a broadcast from broadcast camera and/orbroadcast computer bay 421 a live performance or event. In Phase B(402), a camera and/or microphone in remote audience device 411 maybegin capture a virtual audience member's reactions to the streamingbroadcast and send that audio and/or video stream or capture tovideo/audio aggregator 431 that may be located on site at a live eventor performance. In Phase C (403), video/audio aggregator 431 may acceptan audio and/or video stream or capture from a virtual audience memberand broadcast that audio and/or video stream or capture onto board 441that may be located on site at the live event or performance.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a virtual ticket system and method accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure. In Phase I (501) of system50, video broadcast of a live event or performance may be sent from, forexample, broadcast computer bay 511 and/or broadcast camera 521 to“cloud” aggregator 531. In Phase II (502), more than one virtualaudience member (541, 542, 543) may log into “cloud” aggregator 531 towatch a live event or performance being broadcast from broadcastcomputer bay 511 and/or broadcast camera 521. Virtual audience members541-543 may watch the same broadcast of the live event or performance atthe same time. Each virtual audience member also may broadcast audioand/or video to “cloud” aggregator 531 and to video/audio aggregator bay551 that may be on site at the live event or performance. In Phase III(503), “cloud” aggregator 531 may aggregate all incoming video streamsand broadcast them as a single stream. Video/audio aggregator bay 551may broadcast video and/or audio onto board 561 on site at the liveevent or performance.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a virtual ticket system and method accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure. In Part I (601), more thanone camera feed/audio/video capturing device (611, 612) may be compiledand processed by data analyzing computer bay 621. In Part II (602),processed data from data analyzing computer bay 621 may then bestructured into 3D rendered models of what was initially filmed by 3Dmodeling and rendering computer bay 631, if applicable. Broadcast 641 ofthe structured 3D rendered model may be broadcast into “cloud” 651. Atleast one virtual audience member (661, 662, 663) may log into “cloud”651 in Part III (603) in order to see broadcast 641 and streams fromother virtual audience members (661, 662, 663) in “cloud” 651. Streamsfrom at least one virtual audience member (661-663) also may be streamedto video and/or audio aggregator 671 that may be broadcast onto board681 on site at the live event or performance. Accordingly, virtualaudience members (661-663) may see and explore various broadcast streamsfrom the live event or performance as well as from other virtualaudience members through a single vantage point or coordinate. Further,a virtual audience member's audio and/or video may be transmitted to“cloud” 651 as well as to video and/or audio aggregator 671 on site atthe live event or performance.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a customer may purchase aticket from a ticket organization, league, company, promoter, or otherentity. This ticket may be good for a designated seat or a generallocation at an event. This seat or location can be for one person orshared by more than one person in embodiments of the present disclosure.While some tickets may be sold, it should be appreciated that there maybe embodiments of the present disclosure where tickets may be providedat no charge. As described herein, the availability of a seat may belimited to one or may be unlimited depending on what the entity puttingon the event decides to make available. Tickets may be available for anevent when there is no live audience, a partial live audience, or even asold-out audience in embodiments of the present disclosure. Also, asdescribed herein, persons may form groups of two or more and see eachother while viewing the event, such as through picture-in-picture, andtalk with one another as if they were sitting next to each other at thevenue where the event is taking place.

FIG. 7 depicts components of a unit comprising a system and method tosend and receive live visual and audio streams from and to virtualdesignated locations by means of purchasing or acquiring a virtualticket according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, and depictsa system and method for a virtual ticket purchase for a designated seataccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Tablet 2 (or othersimilar technology) may include a screen and camera 1 mounted orotherwise attached to robotic base/neck extension 3. Tablet 2 also mayinclude external microphone 5 that may be mounted on top or otherwiseattached around tablet 2. While the system is described as including atablet with a camera and screen, it should be appreciated that a cameraand a screen may be provided in forms other than a tablet withoutdeparting from the present disclosure. It also should be appreciatedthat the camera and screen may be integrated with one another orseparately provided without departing from the present disclosure.External speaker 6 also may be provided, and it may be attached totablet 2, the screen, and/or camera, either separately or in conjunctionwith one another, or may be wirelessly communicable with tablet 2, thescreen, and/or camera, either separately or in conjunction with oneanother, in embodiments of the present disclosure. Similarly, externallens 7 may be provided. As depicted herein, arena or venue seat 11 mayreceive tablet 2, camera, and/or screen and robotic base/neck apparatus3. In embodiments of the present disclosure, tablet 2, camera, and/orscreen and robotic base/neck apparatus may be placed onto or aroundarena or venue seat 11. The system may further include controller 4,which may be an Arduino or other similar technology, housing 8,rechargeable battery or other power supply 9, and Wi-Fi router 10.

Controller 4 may control tablet 2 and/or robotic base/neck apparatus 3so that they may rotate or adjust position, including but not limitedto, a 360-degree rotation. It should be appreciated that the rotation oradjustment may be continuous or incremental in embodiments of thepresent disclosure. In an example, controller 4 may turn tablet 2 for afirst customer to face tablet 2 associated with a second customer sothat the customers may see each other and speak with one another as ifphysically present in the venue or at the event. In such example, eachtablet (or screen and/or camera) may have a separate controller so thatthey may act independently from one another.

Housing 8 may be provided to cover or protect tablet 2, camera, screen,and/or other components of the system in embodiments where the systemmay be used outdoors or indoors (such as to protect from being damageddue to flying objects). In some embodiments of the present disclosure,housing 8 may be provided to transform the system into an integratedsystem wherein each component is contained within housing 8. This may bedesirable for installation and transportation purposes. It should beappreciated that housing 8 may provide a protective enclosure but may beprovided in various forms, including, but not limited to, in a singlehousing or even in the form of a robot.

In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 7, the number of units, which mayinclude at least a camera and a screen and may come in the form of atablet, such as tablets 2, may be equal to the number of seats availablein the arena or venue or may be a subset thereof. A unit, which may bein the form of tablet 2 in an embodiment of the present disclosure, maybe placed at a designated seat location. It may be freestanding,attached to the seat itself, and/or affixed to a support structure closeto the seat, and/or hovering close to the seat. Using the system of FIG.7, a customer purchases or otherwise acquires a ticket for a designatedseat at an event (example: seat 1A) and is given a seat locator code.The customer may be instructed to proceed to a URL where he/she uses theseat locator code to access the system. The code may only be valid forone user. At the seat, the unit's microphone may pick up the ambientsound (event sound) surrounding the seat and the unit's camera, whichmay be in a tablet according to an embodiment of the present disclosure,sees the view from the designated seat perspective. The seat sound andview may be sent (or streamed) over Wi-Fi or other wireless technologyto a video conferencing “cloud” platform. From the cloud platform, theseat sound and view may be sent (or streamed) to a URL where thecustomer may access the system with his/her seat locator code via theirmobile device or computer. The customer can then do one or more of thefollowing: direct the controlling device to move the camera view (left,right, point, tilt, zoom) providing his/her own life-like event visualexperience; send his/her picture (still, avatar, or live video) viahis/her computer or mobile device back to the cloud platform; sendhis/her voice via his/her computer or mobile device back to the cloud;and stream his/her voice and picture (still, avatar, or live video)through the video conferencing cloud back to the unit at the event. Thecustomer's picture can be seen on the screen, which may be provided in atablet in an embodiment of the present disclosure, and his/her voice canbe heard through the seat unit's speaker thus creating a real liveaudience at the event. The picture can also be seen if desired on avideo wall or screen at the event and the voice can be mixed with othervoices to create an even bigger full event sound. The customer can optout of sending back his/her voice and picture if so desired.

A second customer may purchase or acquire a seat (1B) next to (1A) andbe given his/her own seat locator code and via a URL access an identicalbut separate system from the one described above. The seat's surroundingsound and camera view may be streamed to a video conferencing cloudwhere the customer can access it through a URL with his/her locator seatcode. The customer is then able to direct the controlling device to movethe camera view (left, right, point, tilt, zoom) providing a life likeevent visual experience. The customer's voice and picture (still,avatar, or live video) via his computer or mobile device can then bestreamed back to the video conferencing cloud where it is streamed backto the seat unit to be seen and heard by others who have made similarticket purchases.

At the same time, the two friends can conference with each other,although it should be appreciated that each friend can manipulatehis/her own camera as soon as they access the system using the locatorseat code. A picture in picture feature of each friend is available ontheir respective computer or mobile device. Paying customers maydetermine who is in their conference of friends. When the picture andsound from customers (friends) is received by the units at the event,the customers via their respective computer or mobile device can directthe controlling device to pivot their own unit and camera angleperspective to look at each other and talk to each other, fan to fan,screen to screen, and be with other fans actually at the event. However,it should be appreciated that manipulation of the unit is not dependenton receiving picture and/or sound from friends. For the team or talent,they can hear the roar of the crowd, see the faces and experience thegame with their loyal fans.

FIG. 8 depicts components of a unit comprising a system and method tosend and receive live visual and audio streams from and to virtualdesignated and/or shared locations by means of purchasing or acquiring avirtual ticket according to an embodiment of the present disclosure anddepicts a system and method for a virtual ticket purchase (oracquisition) for a shared general location according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. The system may include tablet 2 which mayinclude camera 1 and a screen; however, as discussed with respect toFIG. 7, the camera and screen may be separate parts of the unit (i.e.,not necessarily part of a tablet) in embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Tablet 2 may be affixed or otherwise attached to supportingapparatus 9; however, there may be embodiments of the present disclosurewhere the components are configured within a single housing or otherwiseintegrated, such as in the form of a robot. The system also may includeexternal microphone 3 and/or external speaker 4 and/or external lens 5in embodiments of the present disclosure. Housing 6 may be provided forreasons similar to those described with respect to FIG. 7. The systemalso may include rechargeable battery or power supply 7 and Wi-Fi router8, which may control movement of tablet 2 and/or supporting apparatus 9as described with respect to FIG. 7. It should be appreciated thattablet 2 and other components of the system may be free-standing,affixed to a support structure, and/or hovering over a seat inembodiments of the present disclosure.

To use the system depicted in FIG. 8, a customer purchases or otherwiseacquires a ticket for a general location at an event (example: in frontof stage) and may be given a general location locator code. The customermay be instructed to proceed to a URL where he/she uses the generallocation locator code to access the system. The code is only valid forone user in an embodiment of the present disclosure. At the generallocation, the system may pick up the ambient sound (event sound)surrounding the seat, and the unit's camera/tablet may capture the viewfrom the general location perspective. The location sound and view maybe sent (or streamed) via Wi-Fi to a video conferencing cloud platform.From the cloud, the location sound and view may be sent (streamed) to aURL where the customer accesses the system with his/her general locationlocator code via their mobile device or computer. The customer can thendo one or more of the following: send his/her picture (still, avatar, orlive video) via his/her computer or mobile device back to the cloud;send his/her voice via his/her computer or mobile device back to thecloud; and/or stream his/her voice and picture through the cloud back tothe event. The customer's picture can be seen on a video wall or screenat the event and the voice can be mixed with other voices to create aneven bigger full event sound. The customer can opt out of sending backhis/her voice and picture if so desired.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a second customer purchasesor acquires a general location ticket and is given his/her own generallocation locator code and via a URL (or other similar means ofconnection) accesses an identical but separate system from the onedescribed above. The location's surrounding sound and camera view may bestreamed to a video conferencing cloud where the customer can access itthrough a URL with his/her general location locator code. The customer'svoice and picture (still, avatar, or live video) via his computer ormobile device can then be streamed back to the video conferencing cloudwhere it is streamed back to event and can be seen and heard by otherswho have made like ticket purchases. At the same time the two friendscan conference with each other. A picture in picture feature of eachfriend may be available on their respective computer or mobile device.Paying customers determine who is in their conference of friends. Whenthe picture and sound from customers (friends) is received at the event,the customers via their respective computer or mobile device can be withother fans actually at the event when it might not otherwise had beenpossible or available. For the team or talent, they can hear the roar ofthe crowd, see the faces and experience the game with their loyal fans.

Some of the steps illustrated in FIGS. 2-8 may be combined, modified, ordeleted where appropriate, and additional steps may also be added to theflow diagram. Additionally, steps may be performed in any suitable orderwithout departing from the scope of the disclosure. It also should beappreciated that digital twinning may be employed without departing fromthe present disclosure.

It should be appreciated that the real-time digital virtual audiencesystem and method according to embodiments of the present disclosure maybe paid for by individuals on a per broadcast basis, subscription basis,or offered free of charge. In other embodiments, the system and methodmay be offered to other collective bodies on a per broadcast basis,subscription basis, on a licensing fee basis, or offered free of charge.

It may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words andphrases used in this patent document. The term “couple” and itsderivatives refer to any direct or indirect communication between two ormore elements, whether or not those elements are in physical contactwith one another. The terms “include” and “comprise,” as well asderivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation. The term “or” isinclusive, meaning and/or. The phrases “associated with” and “associatedtherewith,” as well as derivatives thereof, may mean to include, beincluded within, interconnect with, contain, be contained within,connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperatewith, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have,have a property of, or the like.

While this disclosure has described certain embodiments and generallyassociated methods, alterations, and permutations of these embodimentsand methods will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly,the above description of example embodiments does not define orconstrain this disclosure. Other changes, substitutions, and alterationsare also possible without departing from the spirit and scope of thisdisclosure and the following claims.

1. For use in conjunction with an event, a method for a virtual audience member to participate in a real-time digital virtual audience comprising: obtaining a virtual ticket to the event, the virtual ticket associated with a designated seat at the event; selecting a link using a communication device to receive a seat locator code to access sound and a view associated with the designated seat at the event; receiving the sound and the view associated with the designated seat transmitted to a video cloud platform over a wireless communication network, the sound and the view including providing the virtual audience member with a particular vantage point within the event that is manipulated by the virtual audience member through the communication device; and communicating video and/or audio through the communication device with at least one additional virtual audience member through the communication network accessing at least one additional seat locator code associated with at least one other designated seat at the event, the at least one other designated seat located next to or around the designated seat, wherein the sound and view are formed by: processing video associated with the event to produce a corresponding data stream; combining said corresponding data stream with one or more individual data streams associated with the event, the virtual audience member, or other virtual audience members; and displaying audio and video associated with the corresponding data stream and the one or more individual data streams in real-time to the virtual audience member.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual audience member manipulates the particular vantage point by performing at least one of the following functions: turning right, turning left, and zooming in on one or more objects associated with the event.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication device is selected from the group comprising: personal computer, a laptop computer, a Web-enabled mobile device, or any suitable communication device/system with access to the Internet or other communication network.
 4. The method of claim 1 further comprising: sending a picture of the virtual audience member via the communication device to the video cloud platform.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the picture is a still picture, an avatar, and/or a live video.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the picture is seen at the event.
 7. The method of claim 1 further comprising: sending sound from the virtual audience member to the video cloud platform to be transmitted to the event.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating video and/or audio through the communication device with at least one additional virtual audience member is through a picture-in-picture feature on the communication device.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein communicating video and/or audio through the communication device with at least one additional virtual audience member is by pivoting one or more of their respective vantage points to communicate with one another.
 10. For use in conjunction with an event, a method for a virtual audience member to participate in a real-time digital virtual audience comprising: obtaining a virtual ticket to the event, the virtual ticket associated with a general location at the event; selecting a link using a communication device to receive a general location locator code to access sound and a view associated with the general location at the event; receiving the sound and the view associated with the general location transmitted to a video cloud platform over a wireless communication network, the sound and the view including providing the virtual audience member with a particular vantage point within the event that is manipulated by the virtual audience member through the communication device; and communicating through the communication device with at least one additional virtual audience member through the communication network accessing at least one additional general location locator code associated with the general location at the event, wherein the sound and view are formed by: processing video associated with the event to produce a corresponding data stream; combining said corresponding data stream with one or more individual data streams associated with the event, the virtual audience member, or other virtual audience members; and displaying audio and video associated with the corresponding data stream and the one or more individual data streams in real-time to the virtual audience member.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the communication device is selected from the group comprising: personal computer, a laptop computer, a Web-enabled mobile device, or any suitable communication device/system with access to the Internet or other communication network.
 12. The method of claim 1 further comprising: sending a picture of the virtual audience member via the communication device to the video cloud platform.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the picture is a still picture, an avatar, and/or a live video.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein the picture is seen at the event.
 15. The method of claim 10 further comprising: sending sound from the virtual audience member to the video cloud platform to be transmitted to the event.
 16. The method of claim 10, wherein communicating through the communication device with at least one additional virtual audience member is through a picture-in-picture feature on the communication device. 